WITH themes of unity, courage, justice and freedom, this year's
opening of the annual Hillsong conference had the ring of a United
Nations convention rather than a church gathering.

The US evangelist Rick Warren, author of the bestseller The
Purpose Driven Life, opened last year's conference by telling
Christians gathered for the premier event on the Pentecostal
calendar it was not a sin to be rich, just a sin to die rich.

Yesterday Gary Skinner, leader of Kampala Pentecostal Church and
Founder of Watoto Child Care Ministries, told them how to spend
their money and exercise their faith: tackling poverty and AIDS in
Africa.

It was not the responsibility of celebrities, pop idols or
government to mitigate poverty, but that of believers of the
church, he said.

The "God of the ditch" was not impressed by the price of
cologne, church doctrine or the number of times people attended
church but by the way his followers practised and lived their
faith.

"The world is on an accumulation binge. God is not a grabber; he
is a giver."

For the next five days 26,000 Christians from 68 nations
representing 19 denominations will gather around Australia's
biggest congregation for a blend of practical workshops on
congregation-building and worship, evangelism and high-energy
Christian rock concerts at Acer Arena, an auditorium built for the
Olympics that serves nicely as a modern house of God.

Last night's conference opening began in spectacular fashion
with orchestras, choirs and trumpeters ringing in the Verve's
Bitter Sweet Symphony, and segueing into a contemporary
version of Amazing Grace.

Hillsong's Darlene Zschech brought the stadium to its feet, the
front row turning into a mosh pit of believers bopping for
Jesus.

The word "justice" and the responsibility it infers was a key
message of the conference, said the senior pastor Brian
Houston.

Stressing its record of helping the poor, Hillsong is keen to
end criticisms that Pentecostal churches, and the Assemblies of God
in particular, are more interested in entertainment than religion
and more worried about personal enlightenment and spiritual and
material abundance than social justice.

Overshadowing the conference is the imminent publication of an
unflattering insider's account of the church, questioning
Hillsong's priorities and its so-called prosperity gospel.

"God tells us that standing against injustice and speaking up
for the disenfranchised is the responsibility of every Christian,"
Mr Houston said.

Mr Skinner did not go away empty-handed: Hillsong handed over a
cheque for more than $700,000 to build a village in Gulu, northern
Uganda, for rescued child soldiers.

The federal Treasurer, Peter Costello, might have called on
Christians to become more active in politics, but in this election
year, amid disquiet about the political influence of the Christian
right, Hillsong was again wary of turning a religious revival
meeting into a political crusade.

For the second year no official invitations were extended to
politicians, although there were expected to be a few private
worshippers, including the federal Liberal MP Louise Markus and the
incoming police commissioner, Andrew Scipione.

Headlining the conference are American televangelists, including
the neo-Pentecostal preacher Bishop T.D. Jakes, who heads an
8000-seater, $35 million church outside Dallas and has an estimated
$100 million fortune, and the pastor of the Fellowship Church in
Texas, Ed Young jnr.